[parfe]

I find the government giving a company the power to coerce an employee through the threat of deportation fairly horrible. It's indentured servitude. The H1-B program needs to be abolished and replaced. If companies have trouble finding workers of a certain skillset the government needs to open up immigration to that skillset.

But the companies should then need to compete in the free market for those hires.

[deskamess]

Some reforms along the lines of:

1) Decouple the work authorization from the employer. The employee gets an open work permit for X (say 5) years.

2) If you can prove you have been gainfully employed above some agreed upon salary (via tax records) for 3+ years you get temporary permanent residency without any employer interference/input. You then finish out the other formalities (health, security checks) to get the official permanent residency.

The goal of 1) is to empower the employee with work mobility that does not affect future residency. If there really is a skill shortage they can leave without additional formalities or negotiate for better compensation. If they are talented, have stayed legal in other respects, and wish to stay in the US, they are now set.

[rbanffy]

This is a great idea. However, how can you certify someone has a given skill set, in special with environments where the skill sets themselves change very fast? How can you ensure those skills are really absent in the local work force?

[huhsamovar]

Companies have to offer their jobs to citizens first, before giving a visa to a foreign national.